“If their army capitulates, then the British will surrender”. That was the Germans High Command’s thinking for much of the second world war. Flawed, as we know. This book is an account of the decisive German blitzkrieg campaign. There’s an intensity in it, focusing on the events of 1940. That said, German historian, Karl-Heinz Frieser also makes direct comparisons between the German war plans of the first and second world war, pointing out they both needed the ‘co-operation’ of the enemy to succeed. It’s an illuminating title because it’s a chronicle that’s told from the German perspective. Frieser explains the thinking and actions that – initially – paved the way for Germany’s momentum, as well as the surprising military feint of France and Britain on the European continent. ‘The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West’ a read that will put other, rather asymmetrical books into context.
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>> Podcast Episode 136, Blitzkrieg 1940
